DETROIT, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- UAW members at eight locations in three states are on strike against Caterpillar, Inc. (NYSE: CAT) to protest unfair labor practices committed by the company.
Picket lines are up and are being honored by UAW members at the following Caterpillar facilities: Aurora, Ill.; Decatur, Ill.; Denver, Colo.; East Peoria, Ill.; Mapleton, Ill.; Pontiac, Ill.; and York, Penn.
The unfair labor practice strike affects all UAW-Caterpillar facilities, except those at company warehouses in Memphis, Tenn. and Morton, Ill.
The job action is in protest of continued illegal actions by Caterpillar. The National Labor Relations Board has now filed 44 unfair labor practice complaints against the company. Because the strike is in protest of unfair labor practices, the company is prohibited by law from hiring permanent replacements.
The unfair labor practices committed by Cat include: failure to bargain in good faith, failure to provide information for bargaining, unilateral changes in the terms and conditions of employment, interfering with the union grievance procedure, interfering with the distribution of union literature, and harassment and punitive actions against union members and officials.
The current walkout began on Nov. 11 at Caterpillar's Building DD in Mossville, Ill. Workers there walked out in protest of Cat's continuing attack on employee rights following illegal disciplinary action taken against union official George Boze on Nov. 10. Boze was harassed by a foreman, and asked to file a grievance in protest. He was indefinitely suspended while he was in the middle of filing the grievance.
Workers walked off their jobs at Mossville Building DD on Thursday evening, Nov. 11. By Friday morning, the following job action spread to UAW-Caterpillar facilities across the country.
"I'm proud of the thousands of UAW-Caterpillar members who have effectively demonstrated a very sound union principle," said UAW Secretary Treasurer Bill Casstevens, who directs the union's Caterpillar Department. "An injury to one is an injury to all."
"This kind of reaction is inevitable when a company tries to manage by threats, by intimidation, and by harassment," said Casstevens. During the past year, he noted, the company has installed hidden cameras inside its plants, erected barbed wire fences around its facilities, ordered the arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and suspended or discharged hundreds of workers for legally protected union activity.
"Caterpillar has to stop its illegal activity and start respecting the rights of its workers," he said. "This company thinks they are above the law, but UAW-Caterpillar members are going to bring them back to earth."
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/CONTACT: Roger Kerson of United Auto Workers, 313-926-5291/
(CAT)